Alfred Matzerath Timeline and Summary

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• Alfred is a German soldier injured in WWI who recuperates in a hospital in Danzig and marries Agnes Koljaiczek, the nurse who cared for him.
• A little while later, Agnes gives birth to their son, Oskar. When Oskar is born, Alfred's first thought is that the boy should take over the family business.
• Alfred gets in on the ground floor with the up-and-coming Nazi Party. But he never really advances all that far, despite his ambition.
• On Oskar's third birthday, he falls down the stairs and suffers what seems to be a disfiguring injury. Alfred, along with the help of his wife Agnes, always blames himself for what happened.
• While Alfred goes about his daily life, he seems to have no clue that his wife Agnes is having an affair with her cousin, Jan Bronski.
• Alfred enjoys playing games of the card game "skat" with his wife and Jan because he tends to win a bit of money from Jan. Little does he know that Jan loses because his mind is on Agnes more than the game.
• After a trip to the beach, Alfred's wife Agnes begins to compulsively eat fish. Agnes eventually dies of fish poisoning and Alfred's heartbroken.
• Some time later, Alfred takes on the seventeen-year-old Maria Truczinski to help him run his store. Maria is a beautiful young girl, and she quickly has Matzerath's shop running efficiently.
• Not realizing that his son Oskar's in love with Maria, Matzerath marries her.
• Shortly after, a little boy named Kurt is born. Matzerath doesn't realize that this boy might be Oskar's son.
• After Oskar returns from a year with the circus, Alfred is truly happy to see him.
• We learn that Alfred has been refusing to sign papers requested by the Nazis that would allow them to put Oskar in an institution. Alfred knows that the Nazis exterminate anyone with mental or physical handicaps.
• When the Russians invade Danzig, Alfred realizes that the Russians will kill him if they find out he's a member of the Nazi party.
• The only piece of evidence linking him to the party is a small insignia pin. Alfred tries to swallow the thing, but forgets to close the pin. The thing gets stuck in his windpipe and he has a coughing fit.
• The Russians aren't impressed; they shoot him through the gut with their Tommy guns. That's the end of Alfred.
• Later in his life, Oskar thinks affectionately about Alfred and thinks that maybe he was his real father after all.